Free Printable Sight Word Games to Help Your Child Learn to Read

Your child probably comes home from school each afternoon with a list of sight words to practice, and your role is to help them go over that list, so that they can be tested.

Sometimes a child can ace his sight word tests but still not be able to recognise those words in a book, or out at the grocery store. Why? Because they’ve learned the words in context. Either sitting at their desk or at the kitchen table. And they’ve learned those words as part of a list.

So what can you do to generalise their learning and help them recognise those all important words whatever their surroundings? Well first up you need to read every day with your child, but secondly, you can play some sight word fun games so they can practice!

We’ve rounded up 37 of the most fun sight word games that our fellow super moms have created, so all you need to do is pick two or three that you think your child will enjoy and have some fun together learning those all important popcorn words!

Oh and if you’re a homeschooler, you might want to skip the list learning all together and just jump straight in with the sight word games.

Free Printable Sight Word Games

“Learning sight words is an important part of learning to read. Many times knowing these words give boys the confidence they need to feel that they can unlock the secret to reading. We found some very cool sight word games for you and your boys to play together. They are all on topics that boys like and they are all a lot of fun as well.” – Brain Power Boy

“Recently one of my 8-year-old twins was struggling with one of his early reader chapter books and I knew it was time to revisit sight words. Why not make it a game? Let me show you how we use it!” – Brain Power Boy

“When we hear the word pond, we think of frogs and dragonflies as well as lily pads and lotuses and so I used these thoughts to create her first ever JELLO POND DIVE SIGHT WORD GAME! I wanted to make it as hands on and sensory as possible as my daughter is a serious sensory seeker.” – Learning 2 Walk

“This sidewalk chalk sight word game is super easy to play and is HIGHLY adaptable. You can spell phonics words, sight words, or work with numbers. We chose to use it for practicing sight words and had so much fun!” – This Reading Mama

“Sight words are an important part of learning to read. Why is that? Like I’ve said before, just the first 100 words on Fry’s High Frequency list make up about 50% of what you read. Now, that’s a lot of words! To do a little sight word review at the end of the school year, my Kindergartner and I played a game called Sight Word BLACKOUT. ” – This Reading Mama

“I didn’t realize how fast this summer went by. We really didn’t do anything to prevent the notorious summer slide. I noticed that some sight words have been forgotten… so I knew we’d need to review them before school started back up. I grabbed his last lists of sight words he passed in Kindergarten and made a game for him to play on the stairs!” – Hands On As We Grow

“One of the best ways to help your child learn and remember sight words is to play a sight word game. One day, as I watched my boys eagerly race two Matchbox cars at a time down their track, I was struck with an idea: With one simple twist, their playful competition would become a motivating sight word game! Sight Word Drag Racing was born.” – Playdough to Plato

“I’m always looking for new ways to practice sight words with my boys. I created a Fall sight word freebie that’s very simple to use. You’ll just need to print the sheet, write some words you’re working on in the circles, and grab a die and markers.” – The Measured Mom

“Making sight word practice fun makes it more effective! The more sight words new readers know automatically the better they can comprehend the text they are reading. Since Halloween is coming we decided to practice with a little sight word ghost zapping!” – Coffee Cups and Crayons

“When I was a teacher, I often played this game “BANG!” with my students and they LOVED it. Now, I’m using it with my youngest daughter as she starts kindergarten. It’s super simple to make and lots of fun to play. You can play with two players or twenty, students, older siblings and adults.” – Come Together Kids

“This ABC game is perfect for burning off a little energy! This ABC game is called “Alphabet and Sight Word Scramble”. It’s perfect for children who are just learning their letters and for kids who are memorizing common sight words.” – Playdough to Plato

“In order to ensure that your child has actually learnt the word and is able to read it automatically (without hesitation), they need multiple exposures to the words in different contexts. Like with everything else, some children may pick them up very quickly with limited exposure, while some may need to have more exposure and practice. Here is a fun game that has kids reading their sight words whilst burning off a bit of energy at the same time.” – Learn With Play At Home

“Since flash cards are really not my thing, I have been putting a little active fun into our sight words. For the last couple of weeks we have been putting a “twist” into our sight word practice, with Sight Word Twister. (I did giggle a little about that one.)” – A Mom With A Lesson Plan

“Today, I am going to share a quick activity that will appeal to your kinesthetic learners (those that learn best by touching, feeling and experiencing things by hand) and doubles as great fine motor practice. I have found that during these early years, many children learn best this way. They are very tactile, experiencing the world by touch. This is why hands-on activities are so important for children. ” – Mom To 2 Posh Lil Divas

“Sight Word Pancakes is a fun, hands-on sight word game to help kids memorize common words so that they can increase their reading fluency. This sight word game is easy to set up and great for building a new reader’s confidence!” – Playdough to Plato

“This is a game I used in the classroom quite a bit to review our sight words and the kids LOVED it. I used it for the first time with ALuv {currently in Kindergarten} this week and it was a big hit for him as well. I love the game because it covers so many objectives. {An added bonus is that it requires almost zero amount of time to prep time!}” – This Reading Mama

“My kids LOVE running around outside and gathering acorns. This activity combines playing outside with learning to read sight words in an easy to prepare, fun sight word game for kids.” – The Educator’s Spin On It

“Sight word games are one of the best way to keep your child motivated to learn more sight words! Ask a young child what his favorite part of the school day is and he is likely to say, “recess” so this sight word game is inspired by a popular playground activity: soccer. It’s addictively fun and sneakily educational.” – Playdough to Plato

“While it’s important to learn to sound out words, it’s also important (and useful!) to know a lot of words by sight. Since kids often see the color words in print, it makes sense to add them to the list of sight words that beginning readers can read automatically. Here’s a simple free game to teach kids to read color words.” – The Measured Mom

“This week, my boys played our new Shamrock-themed Sight Word Game {called Word Bump!}. If you are new to Word Bump!, it’s a game I concocted for working on writing our sight words in a fun way {plus, there’s some math mixed in}. It sure beats writing each sight word five times! ” – This Reading Mama

“This week and last, I’ve hit the jackpot with a game that everyone wants to play–Maddy included. WORDO! WORDO! totally rocks because it’s so completely adaptable to just about every game you need, similar to our pal, Tic-Tac-Toe. We’ve used WORDO! to practice Maddy’s spelling words (a very difficult list. . .), to practice sight words with Owen, and to practice letter writing and recognition with Cora. All at the same time.” – Teach Mama

“Sight words are words that children will encounter frequently in text. Many of these words are not easy to sound out so it helps if children can recognize them. Learning sight words is not always the most exciting prospect for kids, but we found a way to make it fun with this sensory game. It is pretty simple to create a game that combines sight words with sensory play. I highly recommend playing this game outdoors. It can get messy (that’s what makes it so fun!) and the clean up is easier outside. ” – Mess for Less

“11K+ Do your kids enjoy board games as much as mine? Are they working on sight words, word families, letter/number recognition or another similar skills? If you answered yes, then I have another fun learning game to share with you today.” – Mom To 2 Posh Lil Divas

“The sight word game Magic Squares is a perfect example of how a simple activity can be great fun and learning! It’s a guaranteed distraction at restaurants, doctors’ offices and on airplanes. Just print and play this sight word game anytime and anywhere!” – PLaydough to Plato

“My son started Kindergarten this year and has a list of sight words he is required to memorize. It can be quite boring and frustrating for kids….so I am trying to search for ways to make learning this a little more fun. My son had a lot of fun learning his sight words by playing the Parking Lot Game.” – Juggling With Kids

“It’s been beautiful here and I wanted to get outside for a little learning. This gross motor sight word game is fun and was a cinch to adapt to very different ability levels. My son worked on sight words and my daughter on letter recognition.” – No Time for Flashcards

“My Little M loves classic games. She loves Memory, Go Fish, Hangman and of course Tic Tac Toe! Anytime I can modify one of her favorites into a sight word game it’s a major score! This week we have been playing a lot of Tic Tac Toe… why not add in a little playful learning?” – A Mom With A Lesson Plan

“Playing games is great for kids to learn sight words. If you have a child that needs to learn them for school you already know that practicing can get old very quickly! In order to make practicing more fun for my 5 year I decided to incorporate swimming, one of his favorite activities, into our game!” – Coffee Cups and Crayons